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Riley Smith on That One Audition with Alyshia Ochse

Riley Smith
Riley Smith 1920 960 Alyshia Ochse

Riley Smith is an immensely talented actor whose body of work comes to life in diverse roles across television and film. With a promising new series, Riley’s star is quickly on the rise.

Riley Smith has most recently been cast to co-star in the CW’s up and coming hit Nancy Drew. The series is set the summer following Nancy Drew’s high school graduation, where she and several teens throughout the town are suspects of murder. The victim? Smith’s characters, Ryan Hudson’s, socialite wife. Nancy Drew can be seen following Riverdale on the CW starting in October of 2019.

Before landing the role of Ryan Hudson, Smith had wrapped up his role of Levi Scott in Fox series Proven Innocent, and prior to that was Dr. Will Grant on the CW series Life Sentence.

Smith was the lead in the CW series Frequency, which premiered October 2016. In this re imagining of the 2000 New Line film, Peyton List plays a female police detective in 2016 who discovers that she is able to speak via a ham radio with her estranged father (Smith), also a detective, but who died in 1996. They forge a new relationship while working together on an unresolved murder case. However, unintended consequences of the butterfly effect wreak havoc in the present day.

In 2015, Smith was seen in a strong arc in Season 4 of the popular ABC musical series Nashville. Playing Markus Keen, an artist signed to Rayna’s Highway 65 label, Smith merged his love for music and acting, recording singles, such as “In the Name of Your Love” and “I Want To (Do Everything For You,” for the Nashville soundtrack. Also in 2015, Smith scored a recurring role as Rachel McAdam’s boyfriend, Sheriff’s deputy Steve Mercier, on HBO’s True Detective, the second installment in the crime franchise. This role followed his previous stint on the pay cable network as a vampire on the seventh and final season of HBO’s True Blood. Smith played Keith, a rugged, rock ‘n’ roll vampire with a romantic side and story line opposite Arlene, played by Carrie Preston.

Previously, Smith had recurring roles in the Emmy-nominated CBS series Joan of Arcadia, the highly acclaimed Fox show 24, the WB series Summerland, and Judd Apatow’s master creation for NBC Freaks and Geeks. He was a main character in the Fox show Drive and appeared in seven episodes of the fifth season of CW’s 90210 as Riley Wallace, a paraplegic opposite Shenae Grimes, and Tristan Wilds. He can also be seen in television movies including Disney Channel’s Motocrossed and Nicholas Sparks’ Deliverance Creek.

Smith’s other credits were in films as diverse as Radio (Ed Harris, Cuba Gooding Jr.), Eight-Legged Freaks, Not Another Teen Movie, New York Minute, as well as Gallowwalkers (Wesley Snipes), Weapons, the Sundance Grand Jury Nominee, and Christmas in Conway (Andy Garcia, Mary-Louis Parker). Over the past twenty years since Smith has called Los Angeles home, he has managed to complete more than seventy-five projects: fourteen pilots, nine series, and dozens of guest star roles.

Resources

RILEY SMITH’S LINKS:

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THAT ONE AUDITION’S LINKS:

036 Robert Baker on That One Audition with Alyshia Ochse

S2 036: Robert Baker
S2 036: Robert Baker 1500 750 Alyshia Ochse

Find the Humor in the Drama and Kill the Table Read

Born in Memphis, TN to a guitar player father and an English teacher mother, Robert grew up on a lakeside farm in Eastern Arkansas. Starting out in professional regional theater at age 15, he went on to attend the Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting theater program at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. While performing in numerous school of theater, student, and independent produced plays he began working in television and film during his junior year and continued on through to graduation while producing and performing theater of his own . Robert Baker currently recurs on SUPERGIRL as the comic villain Otis Graves. And recently wrapped recurring arcs on WRECKED, THE SANTA CLARITA DIET and RIVERDALE. He can be seen as legendary Texas ranger “Big Foot” Wallace in the A+E Miniseries TEXAS RISING as well as tragic real-life detective Bryan Ridge in THE DEVIL’S KNOT opposite Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth. His film VIRTUALLY HEROES premiered at Sundance. Other big screen hits include INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL opposite Harrison Ford, LEATHERHEADS opposite George Clooney and OUT OF TIME opposite Denzel Washington as well THE LONE RANGER. On the small screen he is best known for his long recurring arc on GREY’S ANATOMY as ‘Dr. Charles Percy’ and ‘Randal Kusik’ on JUSTIFIED as well as countless roles on shows like Blindspot, The Magicians, Six Feet Under, and Mad Men..

Resources

LINKS:
QUOTES:

“Nobody wants to see what you’ve planned. They want to see you exist.”

“Denzel Washington is never going to say the same thing twice.”

“I really try to make it a little different going in everytime, for your own sake. That’s a real trap, trying to replicate what worked.”

VIDEOS:

Show Links:

Credits:

  • WRITER: Erin McCluskey
  • SOUND DESIGN: Zachary Jameson
  • WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings
  • ASSISTANT: Elle Powell
  • SOCIAL OUTREACH: Bebe Katsenes
Mehcad Brooks on That One Audition with Alyshia Ochse

059: Mehcad Brooks
059: Mehcad Brooks 1500 750 Alyshia Ochse

Mehcad Brooks is an actor, musician, and producer raised in Austin, Texas. From bringing characters to life on screen, to writing and producing films, and recording soulful music under an alias, award-winning actor and musician, Mehcad Brooks, has become known in the entertainment industry for his raw and refined talent, charisma, and moving presence. Throughout his successful and celebrated career Brooks is best known for his work in USA’s “Necessary Roughness,” for his portrayal of Terrence King, starring alongside Scott Cohen and Callie Thorne. He is also known for his characterisation of Eggs in Alan Ball’s HBO series “True Blood,” and for his work in ABC’s hit show “Desperate Housewives,” portraying Matthew Applewhite. Additionally Brooks starred in Noah Hawley’s docu-drama “My Generation,” and “The Deep End.” His film credits include his breakout role is Jerry Bruckheimer’s “Glory Road” as Harry Flournoy, which followed the 1966 first all-black college basketball teams starting line-up and their eventual NCAA national championship win. Brooks was also featured in “In the Valley of Elah,” “Adulterers,” “Wildlife,” “Just Wright,” and “About Last Night.”

Brooks is currently starring in Greg Berlanti’s “Supergirl” as James Olsen in the shows fourth season, along with Melissa Benoist and David Harewood. You can catch his most recent film, Tyler Perry’s “Nobody’s Fool,” starring Brooks, Tiffany Haddish and Whoopi Goldberg in theatres now.

While bringing characters to life remains one of Mehcad’s biggest passions, his love for telling stories through music is equally important.  Writing and recording under the moniker KING GVPSV, Mehcad recently released his debut, full length album “May 20th” on July 13, 2018.  The album features 16 soulful brand-new tracks, including the single “Tears Away” which has been featured in an episode of his series “Supergirl.”  The album was inspired by multiple near-death experiences that Mehcad has endured, all taking place on May 20th and forever changing his life.

 

Tune in

Listen On iTunes

 

Resources

LINKS:
QUOTES:

“I don’t think we do new things as actors. I think that we can unlock the things that we remember from childhood.”

“I felt like I could affect the world in a much more dynamic way using my artistic tools rather than my athletic tools.”

“The only part of an audition that you can control is your preparation and your confidence. That’s it.”

VIDEOS:

024: Brianna Brown
024: Brianna Brown 1500 1000 Alyshia Ochse

Minnesota-born Brianna Brown began acting in elementary school and local community productions. After high school she journeyed to Hollywood to pursue an acting career full-time. She snagged a part in the pilot show for Judd Apatow’s quirky, fondly remembered series Freaks and Geeks. From there she got parts in several theatrical features, mostly comedies, and in 2004 secured a part in Spider-Man 2. She worked steadily over the next few years, playing everything from a farmer’s wife to a killer of zombies (Night of the Living Dead 3D), and worked again for Apatow in two more of his comedies, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up.

She also kept busy with guest-starring roles on some of the top series on TV, such as CSI: Miami, Without a Trace, Smallville and had a memorable turn as a serial-killing call girl in Criminal Minds. She had a long-running part on the soap General Hospital as Dr. Lisa Miles.

Outside the film industry, she has been involved in giving women the opportunity to empower themselves financially, co-founding the “Green Goddess Investment Club” and starting the organization empowering accountable, goal setting women called THE NEW HOLLYWOOD to “Rise up, Shine Brighter and Give Back”.

Tune into our Interview on iTunes HERE

 

Resources

LINKS:

 

QUOTES:

“You couldn’t google how to be an actor when I was teenager.”
“Ignorance is bliss and I had nothing to lose.”
“Having a theater background helped me to not worry about what I looked like. It was about the acting, not looking pretty.”
“How I saw myself and how other people saw me was really different.”
“I felt like my sexuality was a dance.”
“I was coined the best villain on General Hospital.”
“I’m very empathetic and I could feel the pressure of is she going to deliver.”
“I was the network dummy and I wasn’t suppose to get the role.”
“Actors need to wrap their heads around the business of acting monetarily.” | CLICK TO TWEET
“Actors are like stock share, but it’s not personal when you get traded or cashed in.”
“The New Hollywood changes the way women help and support each other.”
“The guide book “Manifesting YOUR Mission” reframes how we see obstacles.”
“Actors need to be smart with their money, making your funds last for a long time.”
“Many actors have limiting beliefs around money and that limits their growth in the business.”
“Get really clear on your WHY. Create on your WHY.” | CLICK TO TWEET

 

VIDEOS:

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ALYSHIA OCHSE

Los Angeles-based actress, bestselling author, host of That One Audition podcast, entrepreneur, & mother.

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